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March 18, 2009

US Keeps Blackwater in Iraq Despite Iraqi Ban
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The State Department has quietly signed a deal that keeps the company
formerly known as Blackwater in Iraq despite an Iraqi government ban.
The Washington Times reports the US signed a new contract with
Blackwater in February, just days after the Iraqi government said it
wouldn’t renew Blackwater’s operating license. The $22 million contract
extension runs through September of this year. In 2007, Blackwater
guards killed seventeen Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked massacre in
Baghdad’s Nisoor Square. The company recently changed its to name to Xe
as part of a rebranding campaign.



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